


Waking Dreams

by Black_Birb



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Little Nightmares (Video Game), Little Nightmares II (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Author didn't know how to finish the story but she tried her best, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:02:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29833659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Birb/pseuds/Black_Birb
Summary: Where, instead of getting dragged through a static screen by herself, Six and Mono are both pulled through the TV and, subsequently, tumble right into the Criminal Minds world.
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 109





	Waking Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Just a blurb I wrote spur of the moment style, the idea occurred to me after I finished watching a play through of Little Nightmares II and I just ran with it. Probably won't ever get an update, but if you like the idea and are struck with a sudden bout of inspiration go right ahead! Just pls credit me, and send me a link! I'd love to see if anyone got any inspiration from this.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Sorry for the shitty writing I know ok
> 
> (For obvious reasons, Six and Mono are a bit bigger in this story though still quite tiny you know malnutrition and all that)

_"For what do we have to do with the dark things? But to drag them out into the light.”_

_~My mother, on the topic of humanity._

__________________

ACT I March of the Guests

Deep in the country side, a decrepit old shed stood in a field of wild flowers. A beautiful scene surely, with chirping birds, and soft, warm wind. But in this shed, something far more sinister was happening. Seated on a rickety old shelf, an old, box TV set was perched rather precariously close to the edge. Dust gathered across the screen so thick, you could no longer see your own reflection, it was surrounded in rusted, forgotten things and a hole in the roof let enough water trickle in to rot a hole right in its head.

Despite the state of the TV’s affairs, the knobs began to turn of their own accord, the whine of static harsh in the quiet air. Suddenly, the TV pinged to life, static roaring and the whole box threatening to rattle right off the shelf. The dusty glass pane seemed to stretch unnaturally, a dark shadow of a hand pressed into the wrong side of the pane when suddenly it shattered.

The sound seemed deafening in the old shed, the shatter of glass almost rattling the air around it. Scattering birds, and breaking the peace, creating a stifling, suffocating tension.

Two children, so small and frail, tumbled right out of the television set scraped, bruised and bloodied. Their unconscious forms gripped tight to each other. In the distance, the rumble of beaten up truck, first crunching beneath its tires.

It’s good thing isn’t it? That farmer Brown decided to clear his forgotten shed today, they might have never been found otherwise.

______________________

Carpet beneath polished shoes, hurried talking into cellphones, the click of computer keys, the hum of many talking voices. These noises grew muffled and distant as JJ hurried into the meeting room, a stack of very thin files in hand.

“Two days ago, in an abandoned shed in Maryland, two young children were found, unconscious, unresponsive, and severely malnourished. They where rushed to the hospital where they remain unconscious, and unidentified.” Files were set before each of them, scarily thin, and containing only two sheets of paper Reid realized as he opened his. Morgan shifted in his seat, “Why are we being called in for this? Missing kids is sad, yes, but nothing the police could handle?”

JJ only sighed, sadness in her eyes. “It was the condition they were found in, and the fact no finger prints, or records, of these children could be found.” Reid winced as he flipped to the second page of the file, revealing pictures of the aformentioned children. The tv pinging as the same images were pulled up on screen.

Two young children, scarily malnourished, and far too tiny for their ages. John and Jane Doe, twelve and eleven respectively. Even closed their eyes seemed too big for their faces, their cheeks sunken and skin sallow. They were covered in bruises, and cuts, the girl had a fracture in her right knee made worse by running on it. They were both pale, dark hair spread across their pillows, though the boys was curly and the girls shaggy and straight.

“Are those _hand prints_?” Prentiss sounded incredulous, and appalled, as she lifted the picture closer to her face squinting down at it. JJ’s face turned even more sour, “Yes, on both the girl and the boy, doctors concluded there are at least three different sets of hand prints all together on both of them.” She clicked at the remote, the next set of pictures sliding on and the room gave a collective flinch. Garcia gasped as she turned away.

The most striking was John Doe’s, a black bruise spanned across his face two cuts above his brow where finger nails must have dug in. Jane Doe had rope burn on her ankles, and a dark hand nearly wrapped around her stomach. “This says Jane Doe has a fractured knee?” Hotch glanced up at JJ, as she shifted.

“Yes, the doctors say it started out small but grew worse from running on it.”

Running, running on a broken knee, and covered in deep bruises and cuts. What could they have been running from to ignore such injuries? And for how long?

Hotch rose from the table snapping his file shut as he hurried out the door, Morgan already right behind with anger in his eyes.

“Wheels up in ten.” ______________

ACT II Prison Walls When he wakes up, he is lying on the softest thing he has ever felt. He is surround by light, and clean white, and for the first time in his entire existence he feels…clean. But the room he is in is completely foreign, a giant woman leering over him as he floats between waking and sleep, the machines around him beep and grown in a head aching rhythm.

He falls asleep again.

Hours later, when he wakes up again, many of the machines are quite and the window outside is dark letting in only the pallid moonlight. Mono sits up slowly and looks around the room in near awe, it is the cleanest room he’s ever seen, free of broken things and dark things and scattered debris. He can’t hear any static from the glowing boxes, and his arms and legs no longer burn or leak red. Instead he is wrapped in clean, white fabric.

The click of shoes, and thud of feet much, much bigger than his own jerks him back to attention and carefully he lowers himself down from the bed. Darting off to a dark corner not a moment too soon, just managing to fold himself into a filing cabinet before the door opens. Horror is a cold familiarity as the many Nurses squeal in anger, darting around, and out the door in a mad search for something. _For him_. When the last Nurse has her back turned, he scrambles up a table and into the air vents.

He must find Six.

______________

When the team arrives, they arrive into chaos.

Rossi has to physically stop a frantic nurse on her mad dash through the foyer, where it is then revealed that John and Jane Doe have been missing for an hour.

“What do you mean you lost them?! They’re two malnourished kids, how do you lose two whole children?!” Prentiss hurries to place a hand at his shoulder, “Morgan.” He releases a breath, turning to look at Hotch.

“Myself, Garcia, and Reid will speak to the police chief, and Doctor Lark, the rest of you join up with the others and assist in the search.” Hotch turns then, letting the nurse lead them to the security room as the rest fan out.

______________

Garcia fights to keep her hands from shaking as she sets up her equipment, Hotch and Spencer speaking to chief Pearson and Doctor Lark behind her.

“What exactly happened, from the time you brought the children here to the time of their disappearance?” The chief, and the doctor shared a looked, Pearson went first, “I brought the kids in at around 4:30 PM, after responding to the 911 call from farmer Brown. They were rushed in, and me and my men worked to try and identify them before the doctor found out how badly they were injured, and then we called you.”

Garcia gave herself a mental cheer as she plugged in the USB the first try, clicking on her computer to run anything on the kids, and comb through the security footage.

Doctor Lark spoke next, “You already know the severity of their injuries, but when they first came in they had mud caked up almost to their knees and they were barefoot. They had obviously run a very long way, at least a good few hours after Jane Doe fractured her knee, but their feet weren’t bloody.” Spencer looked surprised, “What do you mean Doctor?” Lark shifted from one foot to the next, “Well they were found in a shack in the middle of a field surrounded by miles and miles of forest. If they ran all that way wouldn’t their feet be at least a little bit bloody? But they were almost fine, in fact the callouses on them were thick, like they’d gone most of their lives without shoes, and the only cuts on their feet were where I pulled glass and porcelain from them.”

"Porcelain and glass? Why would that be?"

Reid looked disturbed, Hotch only shifted, shaking his head. “Regardless, we need to focus on the immediate task. We’ve got two, unidentified children missing in a hospital for well over an hour. We have to find them before they either get out of the hospital, or hurt themselves more.” Hotch turned to address her then, “Garcia, are you ready yet?” The tech nodded, fingers flying over keys.

Chief Pearson looked uncomfortable, “There’s one more thing you should know, John Doe disappeared first so a nurse went into Jane Doe’s room just in case. When an officer went in to check on her she was knocked unconscious, and the little girl was gone too.”

Well that complicated things.

_______________

Mono clutched tightly to Six’s hand as they ascended the stair case up and up and up, towards the big metal door at the top. The key stolen from The Guard weighed heavy in his pocket, as they panted very quietly in their flight from the many Nurses. They barely stopped for breath as they reached their destination, Six offering him a leg up to unlock the door. Then, together, they pushed open the door and stepped out, for the first time, into the _sun_.

The door banged shut behind them, the glowing sign ‘Roof’ flickering tauntingly. Wind whipped around them as they stepped out into what had to be paradise, warm light fell all around them. Soft breeze, so different form haunting empty winds, caressed their faces. For the first time, their hands where warm where their fingers where intertwined, so different from cold and clammy skin, wet with terror sweat and mud.

For the first time in their short lives, they stopped and _breathed._

_______________

Garcia let a whoop of joy as she finally found the children on the security tapes, following the recordings into real time to hopefully track them to now. She watched, as the little boy dropped down onto an empty gurney from the air vents, and then onto the floor. Sneaking his way across the hall and into Jane Doe’s room, Garcia winced when the stolen vase was dropped onto the nurses head. She watched the tiny, far too tiny, John Doe call the little girl down from her bed, reaching to catch her as she jumped.

Then she watched, surprised as the kids backtracked a hallway to the security door, where she was right now, they were in the room for all of ten minutes before running right back out, and helping each other back into the vents. Hurriedly she flipped through the cameras, and forwarded the footage, her stomach dropping as she finally found them again. They dropped out of another vent, conveniently above another empty gurney, and ran up the set of stairs labeled ‘Roof.’ Truly horrified now she turned wildly about the room, before her eyes fell on the board to her right the peg labeled _‘Roof_ ’ empty of the key that should be there. Garcia scrambled for the phone, “Guys! Guys, I know where they are they snuck into the security room using the vents and stole the key for the roof! They made it to stairwell ten minutes ago hurry!” Distantly she could hear Hotch yelling orders, but her eyes were glued to the tiny faces on the video feed. Like the photos their eyes were too big, and their faces skeletal, but the look in their eyes of fear and trepidation ignited a fire in her.

The team would find them, then they would find the bastards that did this.

________________

ACT III Boots Through the Undergrowth

Morgan was the first to burst through the roof door, two officers, a nurse, Prentiss, and Doctor Lark not far behind. Wildly, his eyes darted around the roof, wind whipping at his arms. “There!” The nurse practically screamed, and he was off before he truly processed the scene, and he nearly tripped on his own two feet at what he saw.

At the other side of the roof, what seemed like miles away, were the kids. The little boy holding a length of black cord in his hands, braced against an AC unit, to make a makeshift zip line _to the other building two stories down_. Already the girl was stepping off the other side, little feet slapping hard onto the fire escape as she caught herself.

“Kid! Get away from the there!” Morgan felt like he was flying as he ran, so fast he was going, but still it felt as if he was stuck in reverse. He watched in horror as the little boy tumbled off the AC unit, sprinting away from him and to the edge of the building, where the little girl was calling to him. One of her thin arms wrapped around the rusty, fire escape railing, her other hand extended as if to _catch him_.

Morgan's heart felt ready to leap from his chest, as he reached for the boy, but it was already too late. He watched in horror as little feet left the roof, The little boy throwing himself from the roof.

“No!”

For one earth shattering second, it looked as if he wouldn’t make it, hell Morgan couldn’t make that jump safely. But the little girl surged forward, catching hold of the little boys hand, and nearly tumbling down right after him, if not for her arm around the railing. He watched, numb with relief and horror, as she grunted and struggled with hauling him up, the little boy scrambling with his feet and other hand after her.

They spared them barely a glance, eyes filled with terror, and a resigned sort of fear, before they disappeared into the building, through a window they pried open together.

_________________

ACT IV Teeth & Leaves

There was an odd tension in the room. Surprise being the most prevalent, after all, no one expected two little kids to escape a hospital full of adults and a team of FBI agents. Morgan had blown into the room not five minutes ago, absolutely furious (not at the children of course, but at himself) and hadn’t stopped pacing since.

“They got away! They were right in front of me and I let them get away!” The last word is enunciated by a kick to a filing cabinet, before Hotch placed a hand at his shoulder. “Enough, anger will get us nowhere. Right now we need to find them, and to do that, we’ll need to do what we do best.” JJ looks incredulous, “Profile them?” Their boss nodded, “They’re much more crafty then anyone expected, and it looks like much more used to daring escapes and sneaking away then we thought.” He looked to Morgan, “Don’t beat yourself up, right now we need all hands on deck.”

Morgan collapsed in the chair next to Penelope, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Hotch they were right in front of me. The boy jumped off a building to get away, and the looks on their faces when they ran away. Damn it.” Garcia reached her to run a soothing hand at his shoulder, Spencer cleared his throat. “In most cases, an abused child in waking up in a strange environment, would most likely hide. Whether under the bed, or in a broom closet, and would have been found much faster. Or simply started screaming when he saw the first stranger.” “What's your point Reid?” Morgan was bit more brusque then usual, anger delaying his thoughts.

“My point is, is that instead of doing any of these things. John Doe proceeded to sneak out of his room completely undetected, went through the air vents, knocked out a nurse (an adult), found Jane Doe, stole the key to the roof and escaped onto the the fire escape of the building over.” Reid paused for breath, “All without making a sound, no questions, crying, screaming or anything. That doesn’t sound like any abused children we’ve ever run into does it?” Prentiss shook her head “No, it’s like they were used to it. Knew what to expect, and what to do.”

She looked at Reid, Rossi chimed in. “So they view strangers as enemies, and knew they had to escape?”

“Not quite,” Reid stepped over to the computers, “They see any adult as an enemy, specifically anybody bigger then them. Garcia can you play the footage from the children’s ward?” The techie snapped to attention, clicking a few keys and drawing up the video. On screen, the two children tumbled out of a vent and, after righting themselves, darted off under a bed.

“The kids ran through the children’s ward on their way to the security room, where they encountered another child. Now watch.” The kids crept out from under the bed at the beckoning of the other kid, and while hesitant they proceeded to kick a bouncy ball back and forth between the three of them. The moment was shattered when the door handle began to turn, the kids darting back under the bed as a nurse stepped into the room. But not before the little boy tried to drag the other kid under the bed as well.

“They happily played with another child when presented the opportunity, but the second the door started opening they ran for it.” Rossi looked disturbed. “And they expected the other kid to do it to.” Morgan seemed to be losing his patience, “And what does this get us? They’re still gone, and they’re probably running further and further away as we speak.” Hotch shot him a look, “It means they probably won’t go anywhere near populated areas, and if they see anything they deem a threat they will disappear again just like on the roof.”

“It also means we have another way of reaching them”, He heaved a sigh, “other children.”

_________________

ACT V One Step, Two Step

_17 Hours later._

Mono looked to Six, the early morning sun peaking through the holes in the roof of their abandoned warehouse cast deeper shadows and sparkling lights. Six was running her hand through one of those holes of light, watching her hand flickering in and out of the darkness in fascination.

They both snapped upright when the sound of metal grinding on stone echoed across the room, together they darted into the shadows, sliding behind an upturned table. Surprisingly it wasn’t another Nurse, or Guard, it was one of their own. A little boy stood nervously in the doorway, his hair was blond and was a bit taller than Mono.

“Hello…?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the other let out a hesitant call, and with a shared look he and Six joined hands and crept around the table and into the open.

________________

The warehouse doors stood ajar, and draped in shadows Jack having stepped through not twenty minutes ago. A single car was parked outside the building, Doctor Lark, Hotch, and JJ the only people there to bring the kids back. They did not want a repeat of yesterday.

“They’ve been in there for too long.” Hotch was getting antsy, with good reason, his own son had been tasked with retrieving the terrorized children after all. JJ set a hand on her boss’s arm, offering a silent support. Just then, like thunder cracking on a silent night, the door creaked open further, a small hand wrapped around the side and pushing it open completely.

The three simultaneously tensed, and forced themselves to relax, Jack's was the first face they saw, and with an almost imperceptible sigh of relief Hotch laid eyes on his son once more.

After a moment Jack finally saw his dad by the car, smiling he turned back over his shoulder to call to the other kids. “C’mon, daddy’s out there, he’ll help you just like I promised.” The two kids shifted uneasily, their hands clutched together so tightly their fingers turned white. At first Jack thought they might run away and hide again, but after a long moment of hesitation they slowly stepped forward.

Beaming, Jack finished pushing the door open, and guided them into the light.

**Author's Note:**

> I know, it's definitely not the best but I had fun writing it and I hope you all had fun reading. I lost my muse right at the end, and couldn't for the life of my figure out how to end this story well or connect any of the other scenes I had written up. 
> 
> But, I had fun and I hope you had fun and really that's all that matters.
> 
> Thanks for tuning in folks! Hope you had a great time, and please don't touch any static screens, could be detrimental for your health.
> 
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
